Employees of the Tucson Police Department who refer a recruit for hiring could be looking at a $3,000 payout, if the City Council votes Tuesday, Jan. 10, to accept a proposed plan.
City Manager Mike Ortega has submitted a change to the city’s current Police Officer Recruit Referral Compensation Program, asking that the mayor and council declare an emergency to ensure its quick execution.
Since August 2009, the program has offered $200 to all city employees who refer a police recruit, once that person begins the police academy, according to a memo from Ortega’s office.
During the last fiscal year, there were only five successful referrals, not all of which successfully completed the training academy, said Capt. J.T. Turner, of Tucson Police Department’s administrative services division.
“The existing program has been underutilized for years, resulting in an average of a dozen referrals each year,” Turner said. “The current program ... provides a $200 bonus for referred candidates that are hired and start the academy. There is no further requirements and no expectation that the candidate actually graduate from the academy, which as we know is a long and difficult process.”
Typically, only 75 percent of each class entering the academy and probationary period are successful, so the proposed change is designed to motivate TPD employees to find good candidates for the job and help mentor them through their training and probation, the memo said.
“The proposed program comes with a mandatory mentoring program, which requires the referring member to maintain contact with the candidate and assist them through all phases of the application and training processes,” Turner said. “Most progressive law enforcement agencies have some sort of referral program in place.
“However, most do not have the mandatory mentoring component that our proposal includes and most do not include a phased approach towards achieving a permanent, fully-trained officer.”
The mentoring component is being closely monitored and audited by TPD human resources, Turner said.
The $3,000 payout will only be available to commissioned and noncommissioned TPD staff, and will be paid out over 18 months at “designated points” of the referred recruit’s career.
The first $1,000 will be paid after the recruit completes the hiring process and starts the academy. The second $1,000 will be paid when the recruit completes the field training program and the third payout comes when the officer completes probation.
Since the department announced the proposed program to its employees, the recruiting numbers have increased significantly, Turner said.
Over the past several years, TPD has been averaging 600 applications per recruitment cycle, but this time around it received 816.
“So far, we have received over 50 referrals for candidates in various stages of the hiring process,” Turner said. “Seven of the 21 that started the new academy class today were referred under the program.”
If the proposal is accepted, city employees will still be eligible for $200 in compensation, under the terms of the old plan.
Ortega believes the costs of the new incentive will be reasonable, considering the limited number of officers being hired by the department and the fact that not all new hires will come from employee referrals, the memo said.
The money to fund the compensation program will come from the training supplement already in the department’s budget, and based on the success on the program, a budget line will be added in future years.
